This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into four questions. We'll dive into a different question each day this week. Today is the final day of this week-long conversation. The last question we're exploring centers around overcoming the obstacles you've identified. How do you close your learning gaps? How do you convince your boss to take a chance and give you that project? We’ve talked about lots of different elements that factor into a career path. We’ve shared words of wisdom, … [Read more...]
Which path is the right path?
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into four questions. We'll dive into a different question each day this week. Today, we take a look at the obstacles in between where you are and where you want to be. How do you determine what these obstacles are? Which ones are the most important to focus on now? Informational interviews are one of the most beneficial ways to understanding what you need in order to get where you want to be. As Bill Barnett shared in the video we featured earlier … [Read more...]
Is it all about grit?
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into four questions. We'll dive into a different question each day this week. Today, we take a look at the obstacles in between where you are and where you want to be. How do you determine what these obstacles are? Which ones are the most important to focus on now? From a young age, we’re told that if you work hard and practice every day you can achieve your goals. This often requires focus on few or only one thing in order to reach a desired … [Read more...]
Fastest Route from Point A to Point B, Not Always a Straight Line
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into four questions. We'll dive into a different question each day this week. Today, we take a look at the obstacles in between where you are and where you want to be. How do you determine what these obstacles are? Which ones are the most important to focus on now? Ok. Let’s say you’ve done some soul searching, consulted your family and your most trusted advisors. You can now safely say that you know: ① where you are and ② where you … [Read more...]
Finding Your Career Strategy
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into four questions. We'll dive into a different question each day this week. Today, it is all about where you want to be. What is the next thing for you and your career? What do you need in order to get there? How do you know this is right? We often talk about career planning as the act of sitting down to think about our dreams, goals and aspirations, followed by listing off all the things we need to do in order to get there. In this 99u article, … [Read more...]
Identifying Skills
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into four questions. We'll dive into a different question each day this week. Today, it is all about where you want to be. What is the next thing for you and your career? What do you need in order to get there? How do you know this is right? Trying to determine what your strengths and weakness are as you assess the next step or new step in your career? When making a change to this degree, we can often take for granted our most powerful skills. In … [Read more...]
Feeling Stuck?
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into four questions. We'll dive into a different question each day this week. Today, it is all about where you want to be. What is the next thing for you and your career? What do you need in order to get there? How do you know this is right? We've gone into the archives for this one. In this Field Notes post, originally shared in November 2013, NAS Director, Sunny Widmann, shares the importance of considering your goals and where you want to be. … [Read more...]
Business Model You
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into four questions. We'll dive into a different question each day this week. Today, we focus on where you are now in your career. How do you know where you are? What skills do you currently have? Produced by the same team that created the tried and true Business Model Canvas, this book uses the same canvas as a space for you to map your personal business model and professional identity. This tool helps you take a moment to consider your … [Read more...]
A Map of Your Mind
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into four questions. We'll dive into a different question each day this week. Today, we focus on where you are now in your career. How do you know where you are? What skills do you currently have? You might have used a mind map to sort ideas you've brainstormed about a project or create an outline of a specific topic you are researching, but have you ever used this tool to map your own career path? A mind map is a creative and simple way (but … [Read more...]
A Career Path Matrix
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into four questions. We'll dive into a different question each day this week. Today, we focus on where you are now in your career. How do you know where you are? What skills do you currently have? In this Harvard Business Review article, Bill Barnett shares an easy to implement matrix that can help you determine where your personal objectives are best met when it comes to making career decisions. Matrices are not new tools, nor should their results … [Read more...]
What are the qualities of a strong arts leader?
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into five steps. We'll dive into a different step each day this week. Today, we're focusing on the importance (or lack there of) in having or thinking about a career path. What makes a successful arts leader? This is perhaps the most important question as you think about your own career path in the arts. What does success look like for you? What do you need to get there? Everyone will have their own definition. As an executive search consultant … [Read more...]
Designing Your Life
This week on Field Notes, we're talking about career paths. We've broken this conversation down into five steps. We'll dive into a different step each day this week. Today, we're focusing on the importance (or lack there of) in having or thinking about a career path. Executive Director of the Design Program at Stanford University, Bill Burnett shares his thoughts on one of the toughest questions we all face in life: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Burnett believes that “the notion that you need to have a passion and follow it is a … [Read more...]
Moon Shot: Charting Your Path
A career in the arts. Some (parents) might say that’s an oxymoron. But, if you're reading this it’s likely the path you are on. There is, however, a way to navigate the path and perhaps even put the skeptics at ease. Over the course of my career in this field, I’ve had countless conversations with interns, program officers, CEOs... myself... about that next step in our career. What is it and how soon will it get here? For many, the answers to these questions are a regular preoccupation and can be quite fraught. But, as any good teacher (or … [Read more...]
Seeking wellness in the workplace? Have an impromptu Taylor Swift jam session.
You know how it plays out. You’re watching Wolf of Wall Street and the office run by Jordan Belfore is filled to capacity with drugs, prostitutes and other fun illegal shenanigans. Imagine sharing an office building with a company where this all takes place… except without the prostitutes, drugs and fun illegal shenanigans, but the same smiles on everyone’s face and the laughter being tossed back and forth. Within only a few weeks of working at NAS, I’d taken notice to some pretty strange things with our upstairs office neighbor, The Motley … [Read more...]
How have you engaged your staff to cultivate new leaders?
NAS produces publications, videos and other management tools to inspire those working in the field to take a fresh look at their work and the challenges they face. Over the last few years we have amassed quite a large catalog of content. We’ve sent NAS staff members into the archives to pick their favorites and share them here. This week NAS Director, Dallas Shelby, shares one of his favorite NAS videos. Full disclosure: I conducted this interview. It was a fascinating chat, not only because I got to see the incredible artifacts in the … [Read more...]